Rooke Kakko was right in with a shout of becoming the first home winner of the Finnish Challenge as a four under par second round of 68 left him three shots off the lead, while ten other Finns made the cut in a hugely successful tournament for the host country.

The 31 year old, who is the highest-placed Finn in the Challenge Tour Rankings at 21st place, carded seven birdies at the stunning Kytäjä Golf, in Hyvinkää near Helsinki, on the way to a ten under total for the tournament.

That came despite admitting that he was not feeling entirely up for the day after a short night’s sleep, but he was happy to be still in contention having not been on top of his game.

“On the first day I played really nicely,” he said. “I hit quality drives and good iron shots and placed the ball where I wanted it but today I struggled a little.

“I went back home late yesterday and didn’t sleep too well, then I had to leave early this morning so I wasn’t feeling fresh at any point. The weather didn’t help either because it was a little bit chilly and breezy, the ball wasn’t going too far. I wasn’t swinging it freely and had to put extra effort in which is never the ideal situation.

“I feel like I'm doing better than how I might have done in the past, I'm hanging in there when I'm not playing to the best of my ability. I'm finding a way to hang in there and I got my rewards with three birdies at the end there. All of a sudden a mediocre round turned into a good one.

“I made three well-deserved bogeys today and then bounced back every time with a birdie so that was pretty good. I have to build some momentum again tomorrow but I'm in a good position to be in with a chance and that’s all you can ask for. Tomorrow is going to be an important day.”

A total of 11 Finnish players made the cut, a record for the event and double the 2012 total, making it a hugely successful week for the Finnish Golf Union, one which might become even more successful if one were to go on and claim the title.

“It’s a bit of a different feeling when you can sleep in your own bed and you don’t have to fly anywhere and that’s a great feeling to have,” he said. “I have a few friends here and family and I get to sleep next to my son at night so that’s nice too.”